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2016 (10) TMI 1299 - AT - Income TaxPenalty u/s 221 - failure on the part of the assessee to remit the TDS in time - HELD THAT:- Levy made under section 221 is in accordance with law and hence the Department’s ground is sustained in this regard Non-payment of TDS in time is a serious violation of the Trust reposed by the Government on the deductor. Such an action causes serious problems to the payees as they were not getting credit for the tax paid by them by way of TDS. In fact the AO records that the Department received complaint from the assessee for not issuing TDS certificates despite repeated request. The delay in remittances are in the range of four months to fifteen months. As in Relience industries Ltd v CIT & others [2015 (7) TMI 812 - BOMBAY HIGH COURT] held that “the obligation to deduct and pay tax upon the assessee is unconditional under the Act. It is the responsibility of the assessee to deduct taxes and to pay to the Revenue within the period provided under the Act. Financial stringency would not justify deducting tax from the amount paid to the payee and not paying it to the Revenue. Otherwise, it would amount to using somebody else's money for the purposes of one's business. In such circumstances, the question of financial stringency, to our mind, hardly gives rise to a good and sufficient reason for not depositing tax which was an amount otherwise payable to the payee or on behalf of the payee to the Revenue.” Assessee’s plea cannot be accepted as good and sufficient reason for not depositing tax within time - levy made by the AO at the rate of 5% per month on the defaulted TDS is unreasonable. We consider that levy of penalty u/s.221 @ 10% on the unpaid TDS at ₹ 2,05,55,731/- would meet the ends of justice. Hence the AO is directed to restrict the levy to ₹ 20,55,573/- in the place of ₹ 77,95,155/-. - Decided partly in favour of revenue
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